Recipe: Easy Jack Skellington Cupcakes for Halloween

Celebrate Halloween and the Spooky Season with this easy Jack Skellington Cupcakes Recipe - gluten free, quick and easy, these Nightmare Before Christmas inspired cupcakes are perfect for any Disney fan!

Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange sweet.

Come with me and you will see, a dessert that's simply so easy.

(You're supposed to read that in a sing song voice)

Halloween is just around the corner and with a huge Nightmare Before Christmas fan in the family (my sister!), I thought I'd kick things off with some seriously simple Jack Skellington Cupcakes.

These gluten free cupcakes are so quick and easy to make and you'll never even know they're gluten free because they're soft, fluffy and full of flavour.

Let me tell you more! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Pumpkin Spice Smoothie (Or Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte!)

It's pumpkin spice season and this Healthy Pumpkin Spice Smoothie Recipe is the perfect year-round treat to make at home. Gluten free with vegan and dairy free options, it's a smoothie everyone will love. Also includes the option to turn it into a Homemade Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte for the coffee lovers! Who needs Starbucks with this healthy copycat recipe?!

Hello there! Long time no speak, huh? 

I've been a little bit absent lately because our life has been like a bit of a rollercoaster. We've had the lowest of lows, the highest of highs and I should hopefully be telling you all about it soon (and then you'll understand my absense!) but I am back and planning on staying back.. and I've got the perfect recipe to kick things off.

You see, right now it's pumpkin spice season in the US and usually we're either counting down the days until a trip or exploring somewhere in the US - but with COVID, that's not going to happen.

Instead of moping about missing a vacation this year, I decided I'd bring pumpkin spice season to Sydney.... only with the weather warming up, I just wasn't feeling a latte.

So I grabbed some ingredients out of the freezer, whipped some cream and made myself my very own Healthy Pumpkin Spice Smoothie Recipe.

It's so simple to make but impressive enough to share with friends (who needs Starbucks!) and you can even tweak it to make it vegan or add a shot of coffee for an iced pumpkin spice latte.

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

6 Healthy Halloween Snack Ideas with Real Foods' Corn Thins

These Healthy Halloween Snack Ideas are so easy to make, thanks to Real Foods Corn Thins. Move over rice cakes and boring toppings. Shake up your lunch or afternoon snack with Real Food's Corn This and these 6 delicious topping ideas. From peanut butter and banana to pesto and eggs, cheese, avocado, pretzel sticks and more, create your own cute (or scary!) Halloween characters with mummies, spiders, monsters and more. Gluten free, vegan, dairy free, nut free and clean eating friendly options.

This post is sponsored by Real Foods, however, all recipes and opinions are entirely our own and this is a brand we genuinely love and buy ourselves and confidently recommend to you!

Halloween is less than three weeks away, and whilst there are plenty of sugar-laden treat recipes out there, I wanted to share 6 Healthy Halloween Snack ideas the whole family will love.

These snacks are made with one of my all time favourite gluten free snacks, Corn Thins! Unlike tasteless rice cakes (because let's be honest, rice cakes kind of taste like styrofoam), Corn Thins are made from popped corn and gluten free grains and they're seriously delicious. The original version tastes almost like popcorn, but now Corn Thins have six delicious flavours in their range.

So, with six delicious flavours to choose from, I decided to share six different healthy Halloween snack options with you - three sweet and three savoury, each featuring a different Corn Thins product.

So let me show you what we created! >> 

Recipe: Easy Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts (Gluten Free!)

Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts Recipe - Easy to make and delicious to eat, these pumpkin spice baked donuts are perfect for fall or anytime eating. Coated in cinnamon sugar, these homemade gluten free donuts are quick and easy to make and a healthy alternative to fried donuts.

Click to pin the recipe on Pinterest!

Every single year around this time, I have a bit of a problem... 

You see, whilst we live in Australia that is slowly heading towards Spring, we have so many friends and family members in the US who are racing towards pumpkin spice season... oh wait, I mean fall 😉

Pumpkin spice isn't really a thing in Australia, but usually we're in the US around this time and it's hard to find anywhere without a pumpkin spice something. Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice bagels, pumpkin spice peanut butter - even pumpkin spice M&M's. 

Sooooo, what's an Australian girl to do when she wants in on the pumpkin spice action? 

Why, make Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts, of course.

Click to pin the recipe on Pinterest!

These donuts are seriously delicious. 

They're soft and fluffy with a crunchy cinnamon sugar coating and just the right amount of spice. 

So what are you waiting for? Regardless of where you are in the world, you need these donuts. They're the perfect quick and easy treat as they're made in minutes and will be devoured just as fast 😜

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Easy Healthy Halloween Mini Pizzas

Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this recipe!

Click to Pin This Recipe on Pinterest!

I am definitely not a Pinterest/magazine worthy chef. You know that TV show on Netflix Nailed It, where people try (and generally miserably fail) to recreate ridiculous cake and pastry masterpieces? That’s what it would look like in my kitchen if I tried to create an incredible cake or culinary masterpiece. 

But real, delicious food? That I can certainly do! 

So when ALDI asked me to create some Halloween recipes for them, I knew I wanted to keep things simple. Why? Because simple is what I do and I want to make sure everyone can attempt these recipes and succeed. 

Click to Pin This Recipe on Pinterest!

These mini pizzas are a fun Halloween party addition that is perfect to make with the kids. I made spider pizzas, but you can use your creativity! Make spooky faces from pepperoni cut into eyes and mouths. Make a creepy eye ball pizza with a circle of mozzarella and half a stuffed olive in the centre. Make pizza mummies by adding two olive eyes and laying shredded mozzarella pieces down to act as bandages. The possibilities are endless, so have fun with them!

Also, a big thank you to my sister for lending me her mini Jack 'O Lanterns and Halloween decorations for these photos. I don't trust myself with a carving knife, and she's definitely more talented than I am.

But first, let me share how I made these! >>

Recipe: Easy Mummified Bananas for Halloween!

A special thanks to ALDI for sponsoring this recipe!

Click here to Pin this Recipe on Pinterest!

Growing up, Halloween wasn't really a thing in Australia - but each year, friends would gather at my house in costume ready for a night of trick or treating. 

A few kids in the neighbourhood went out trick or treating so we joined in on the fun, knocking on the doors of our neighbours, hoping they'd know what Halloween was (because so often we'd be met with confused faces and have to explain why there was a bunch of kids at their door in weird costumes wielding pumpkin shaped buckets on a Tuesday evening) and checking out everyone's costumes as we walked around. 

But the best part of Halloween? Dinner! Each year my Mum would turn ordinary food into something spooky for Halloween. Spaghetti Bolognese became blood and guts, Garlic Bread became Green Ant Bread, Soda Spiders became Witches' Brew - there wasn't anything Pinteresty about it, just a few silly names and a whole lot of imagination. 

Click here to Pin this Recipe on Pinterest!

So that's what inspired this recipe. Sure, you can spend hours whipping up elaborate Halloween concoctions, but I thought I'd put together some simple no fuss Halloween treats you can make in minutes - and that the whole family will love. 

These Mummified Bananas are seriously delicious - and healthy too. They're gluten free, egg free, nut free and refined sugar free and you can make them even simpler by using storebought pastry. The pastry recipe I used (and shared below) is super simple too - it's just a matter of adding everything to your food processor or blender and pulsing it until combined before rolling it out, cutting into strips and wrapping your "bandages" around your "mummies". 

A few minutes in the oven and you'll have a delicious Halloween treat that smells incredible and tastes even better.

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Easy Gluten Free Halloween Chocolate Spiders

Click here to pin this post to make later!

I love a good theme. 

Growing up, my birthday parties always had a theme. From a USA Party (I'm not quite sure what this shows considering I ended up marrying an American... but we were a few weeks away from a trip to the US so I think I was just uber excited), to a Pirate Themed 16th Birthday (you're never too old for a theme - especially when it means you can wear epic costumes) to Disney parties, disco parties and just about every other theme you could think of. 

Soooo, whilst we don't really do much for Halloween - I can never pass up a good theme, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get into the kitchen and create some Gluten Free Halloween Recipes!

These spiders may just be the easiest Halloween recipe you'll come across. They take just minutes to make, only need one bowl and there's no baking or complicated steps involved.

Click here to pin this post to make later!

You could be like Jesse who tells me that spiders need legs, but with a little bit of imagination, these spooky Halloween spiders come to life with little eyes (or if there's no imagination, call them Halloween monsters and add a few eyes instead).

Even better? They're ridiculously delicious and there's nothing scary about the ingredients used.

They're gluten free, have a vegan option and can be nut free so everyone can enjoy them!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Halloween Candy Corn Baked Oatmeal

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I have a confession to make... 

I've never actually tried Candy Corn. 

You see, Candy Corn isn't a thing in Australia and whilst I grew up seeing it on TV and in movies, I've never actually eaten it myself. 

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But hey! In the spirit of all things festive, I decided to take the candy corn idea and turn it into something delicious (because Jesse tells me candy corn sits on the fence between delicious and disgusting).

This is a Halloween inspired recipe that you can eat for breakfast and it's all natural. All of those bright colours? They're made with all-natural ingredients and no artificial colours - so you won't have kids bouncing off the walls before they head out to trick or treat.

If you're not the Halloween type? Call these Ombre Baked Oats because... er... someone actually mixed up the candy corn colours when photographing this recipe :P 

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But whatever you call it, I promise you this is a breakfast recipe you'll love and want to make over and over again! We make it in a double batch (as we do with all of our baked oatmeal recipes) and freeze individual slices so all we have to go is take a slice out of the freezer the night before and smother it in toppings in the morning. 

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

DIY: Four Easy Halloween Face Painting Tutorials (for Kids and Adults!)

Halloween is this Saturday and together with our friends at The Reject Shop, my very talented sister, Katrina and I decided we should share some super simple Face Painting Tutorials for those of you who have no idea what you're going to do when it comes to a costume (and for those who think our Halloween Zombie Look Tutorial is a little too scary for their liking)

Whether your kids are trick or treating, or you're heading to a costume party - these four easy to achieve Halloween looks are perfect as they don't require a fancy or expensive costume. All you'll need is some face paint, clothes that will fit the look and a fun attitude! 

There's a clown, a bunny/kitten, a swashbuckling pirate and a doll and all the tutorials have been designed to work for both kids and adults using minimal paint (because we don't want you to look like a cast member from Avatar for the next three weeks as you try to wash off that all-over blue body paint look!)

So let me show you how to create these looks yourself! >> 

Step by Step Halloween Zombie Look Tutorial

If you've been reading Southern In-Law for a while, you may know that my sister, Katrina, is ridiculously talented when it comes to face painting and makeup.

Since Halloween is fast approaching, in only seven days time, we decided to team up to create an awesome or perhaps gruesome Halloween Zombie Face Painting Tutorial (well it's kind of a Halloween Zombie Makeup Tutorial, too!) to share with you so that you're Halloween ready. 

Paired with an awesome Halloween Costume from Smiffys, we were ready to share a pretty cool tutorial with you, so let's jump straight to it!

Here's how you can create your own Halloween Zombie Look >> 

DIY Halloween Treat Bags [Includes FREE Templates!]

I love holidays because they're the perfect opportunity to work on fun craft projects! With Halloween fast approaching, I decided to put together a super simple (but super cute!) Halloween Craft Project to share with you all!

Every year on Halloween we have loaaads of little trick or treaters arrive at our house with their pumpkin buckets or paper bags ready to load up with treats - but this year I decided the old loot bag needed a bit of a face lift. Everyone spends so much time on their costumes - so why not have a super awesome bag to match!

These Halloween Treat Bags also make the perfect gift bags or party favours as you can fill them with whatever you fancy - and I'm giving you all of the templates for freeeee! How's that for a Halloween treat?! 

But let me show you how we made these treat bags;